Herodotus: Volume 2

Edited by Rosaria Vignolo Munson

Description

The ancient historian Herodotus, the Father of History, is also considered a great anthropologist. In his account of the Persian invasions of Greece in the fifth century BCE, he searches for the forces that transformed Persians from an underprivileged nation into the rulers of the largest empire of antiquity. In his Histories , he explores the non-Hellenic peoples that were either conquered by the Persians or managed to resist or elude their aggression, such as the Lydians, Egyptians, Libyans, Scythians, and Thracians, and describes the lands they inhabit, their resources, customs, religious rituals, and cultural predisposition.

This second volume of the Oxford Readings in Classical Studies on Herodotus focuses on his description of foreign lands and
peoples, and on the theoretical issues it raises. The selected essays look at the principles of Herodotus' research concerning the physical world in the light of traditional myth and the science of his times, and deal with the connections between travelling and storytelling, culture and gender, Hellenic and barbarian religions, and memory and ethnicity -- all within the context of his insistence on the basic unity of human experience. Central to this collection is the extent to which the Histories's ethnographic portrayals conform to conventional Greek constructs of barbarian 'otherness', or derive from field-work and direct contact with native sources.

Herodotus: Volume 2

Edited by Rosaria Vignolo Munson

Table of Contents

Introduction Rosaria V. MunsonPhysis and Historie1. The Boundaries of Earth, James S. Romm2. Herodotus and Analogy, Aldo Corcella3. Herodotus and Historia, Catherine Darbo-PeschanskiThe Homeric wanderer 4. Odysseus and the Historians, John MarincolaWomen in Herodotus 5. Exit Atossa: Images of Women in Greek Historiography about Persia, Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg and Addendun by Amelie Kuhrt6. Women and Culture in Herodotus Histories, Carolyn DewaldWorld religions and the divine 7. Herodotus and Religion, John Gould8. Herodotus on the Names of Gods: Polytheism as a Historical Problem, Walter BurkertHerodotus barbaroi9. Women's Customs among the
Savages in Herodotus, Michele Rosellini and Suzanne Said10. Imaginary Scythians: Space and Nomadism, Franccois Hartog11. Herodotus the Tourist, James Redfield12. Herodotus and an Egyptian Mirage, Ian S. Moyer13. Who Are Herodotus' Persians?, Rosaria V. MunsonUs and them 14. Ethnicity, Genealogy, and Hellenism in Herodotus, Rosalind Thomas15. East is East and West is West - Or Are They? National Stereotypes in Herodotus, Christopher PellingBibliography of Works Cited Acknowledgements Index